Garage door handle



March 26, 1963 T. L. ROQUEMORE 3,082,472

GARAGE noon HANDLE Filed July 25, 1961 INVENTOR. 77v L. Raw/aware BY 3,682,472 Patented Mar. 26, 1963 3,022,472 GARAGE DOOR HANDLE Troy L. Roquemore, 5063 Bushnell, Arlington, Calif. Filed July 25, 1961, Ser. No. 126,598 4 (Claims. (Cl. 316-112) This invention relates to a novel pull-down handle for overhead garage doors.

The primary object of the invention is the provision of a simple, efiicient, and easily installed handle of the kind indicated, which facilitates pulling garage doors down to closed position, from inside garages, requires less effort than ropes, wires, fixed handles, and the like, and provides better control of the doors.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a handle of the character indicated above, which is composed of an upper rod portion which is adapted to be pivotally secured, at its upper end, to the inside of a garage door, adjacent the lower end thereof, and shorter lower rod portion which is pivoted, at its upper end, on the lower end of the upper rod portion, and has across bar hand grip on its lower end, whereby the initial movement and the following descending movements in pulling a garage door down to closed position are produced and accelerated or retarded.

Other important objects and advantageous features of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings, wherein, for purposes of illustration only, a specific form of the invention is set forth in detail.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is an inside elevation of an overhead garage door, showing the same in closed position, the door being equipped with one or more handles of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged and fragmentary view, like FIGURE 1, showing the handle in detail;

FIGURE 3 is a further enlarged fragmentary vertical transverse section taken through the garage door alongside of the handle;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary vertical section, on a reduced scale, of the handle, taken on the line4-4 of FIGURE 3; and,

FIGURE 5 is a horizontal section, on the scale of FIGURE 4, taken on the line 55 of FIGURE 3.

Referring in detail to the drawings, wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout the several views, the numeral designates an overhead garage door of the rigid pivotally supported type, although the invention is equally applicable to the folding type of overhead garage doors. The door 10 is illustrated as being hollow and provided with spaced outer and inner panels 12 and 14, respectively, and provided, on its inner side, with a bracing frame which includes a horizontal bottom member 16, vertical side members 18, a vertical center member 20, and downwardly converging members 22 which meet the bottom member 16, and the central member 26.

The illustrated handle, generally designated 24-, is preferably installed on the center frame member 20, for better balanced operation and control of the door 10, but can also be installed on either or both side members 18. The handle 24 comprises a vertically elongated upper bar portion 26, preferably of tubular metal construction, which has coplanar upper and lower flats 28 and 30, respectively, on its ends. As shown in FIGURE 4, the lower fiat 30 is bifurcated to define spaced cars 32. The upper bar portion 26 is pivotally suspended on an eye 34, whose loop 36 is journalled through a hole 38, provided in the upper fiat 28, and having a shank 4t disposed at right angles to a vertical frame member, such as the center member 26, and secured thereto. In the event that the member 20 is, as shown a tubular metal form, the shank 40 is threaded through a nut 42, fixed on the inner sidewall 44 of the member and extends through a hole 46 in the sidewall, with a lock nut 48 on the shank bearing against the nut 42. In the case of a wooden garage door, the eye shank 40 would be a wood screw to be screwed into the door.

The handle 24 further comprises a lower and relatively short Vertical bar portion 59 having, on its ends, upper and lower flats 52 and 54, respectively, disposed at right angles to each other. The upper fiat 52 is positioned between the cars 32 of the lower flat of the upper bar portion 26, and a headed pivot pin 56 extends through the ears 32 and the flat 52, whereby the lower bar portion 50, like the upper bar portion 26, is adapted to swing toward and away from the door 10. It is to be noted that, in addition, the upper bar portion 25, and hence the entire handle 24, is adapted to swing laterally on the loop 36 of the eye 34.

A horizontal cross bar hand grip 58 is secured to and extends from opposite sides of the lower flat 54 of the lower bar portion 50. The hand grip 58 comprises a metal tube having open ends 60, and being compressed at the middle thereof, to define a central flat 62. The fiat 62 is engaged with the outer side of the lower fiat 54 of the lower bar portion 50, and is fixed thereto, as by means of a pair of laterally spaced rivets 64.

In use and operation, the garage door 10 being in a horizontal overhead position, the handle 24 being then in a freely pendant position, the operator grasps the hand grip 58, with one or both hands, and pulls downwardly on the hand grip, so as to pivot the door downwardly toward its vertical closed position. As the door is thus started toward closed position, its descent can be controlled by holding onto the hand grip 5S and manipulating the handle 24, so as to accelerate the descent or to retard the descent, according to requirements, and produce controlled closing of the door. The handle 24 is installed on the door 10, so that the hand grip 53 is suspended above the garage floor 66, the vertical length of the handle being such that the mounting eye 34 is secured to the lower part of the door, so that the handle 24 can be used for opening the door, from inside the garage, by pulling upwardly on the hand grip, so as to pivot the door up to overhead position.

The hand grip 58 has caps 68, secured on its ends, preferably of rubber-like material, which provide comfortable hand-holds and serve the additional purpose of preventing marring of the roofs or tops of vehicles entering or leaving the garage, with the door 10 in open position. The articulation of the lower bar portion 50 to the upper bar portion 26, and the articulation of the upper bar portion 26 to the door 10, permits the handle 24 to hang from the door, in the open position of the door, so that the handle 24, if contacted by the top of an unusually tall vehicle, will swing harmlessly out of the way.

While there has been shown and described herein a preferred form of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily confined thereto, and that any change or changes in the structure of and in the relative arrangements of components thereof are contemplated as being within the scope of the invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

What is claimed is:

1. A handle of the character described comprising an elongated upper bar portion having upper and lower coplanar llats on related ends thereof, a lower bar portion having an upper flat coplanar with and pivoted to the lower fiat of the upper bar portion, said lower bar portion having a lower end, a lower flat on the lower end of said lower bar portion and disposed at right angles r 3 to the flats of the upper bar portion, a cross-bar hand grip having its intermediate portion engaged with and fixed to the lower flat of the lower bar portion, and pivotal mounting means on the upper flat of the upper bar portion.

2. A handle of the character described comprising an elongated upper bar portion having upper and lower coplanar flats on related ends thereof, a lower bar portion shorter than said upper bar portion, said lower bar portion having an upper flat coplanar with and pivoted to the lower flat of the upper bar portion, said lower bar portion having a lower end, and a cross bar hand grip fixed to the lower end of the lower bar portion at'right angles to the upper bar portion flats, and pivotal mount ing means on the upper flat of the upper bar portion, said lower bar portion having a lower flat on its lower end disposed at right angles to'the flats of the upper bar portion, said hand grip having a flat intermediate its ends engaged with a side of the lower flat of the lower bar portion and fixed thereto.

'3. A handle of the character described comprising an elongated upper bar portion having upper and lower coplanar flats on related ends thereof, a lower bar portion shorter than said upper bar portion, said lower bar portion having an upper flat coplanar with and pivoted to the lower flat of the upper bar portion, said lower bar portion having a lower end, and a cross bar hand grip fixed to the lower end of the lower bar portion at right angles to the upper bar portion flats, and pivotal mount- 4% ing means on the upper flat of the upper bar portion, comprising a screw eye having a shank adapted to be fixed to the door and a loop, the upper flat of the upper bar portion having a hole through which the loop is journalled.

4. A handle of the character described comprising an elongated upper bar portion having upper and lower coplanar fiats on related ends thereof, a lower oar portion shorter than said upper bar portion, said lower bar portion having an upper flat coplanar with and pivoted to the lower flat of the upper bar portion, said lower bar portion having a lower end, and a cross bar hand grip fixed to the lower end of the lower bar portion at right angles to the upper bar portion flats, and pivotal mounting means on the upper flat of the upper bar portion, said lower bar portion having a lower flat on its lower end disposed at right angles to the flats of the upper bar portion, said hand grip having a flat intermediate its ends engaged with a side of the lower flat of the lower bar portion and fixed thereto, said handgrip having caps engaged on its ends.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,933,637 Plym Nov. 7, 1933 2,174,103 Dri-scoll Sept. 26, 1939 2,652,908 Fuller Sept, 22, 1953 2,973,561 Jackson Mar. 7, 1961 

1. A HANDLE OF THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED COMPRISING AN ELONGATED UPPER BAR PORTION HAVING UPPER AND LOWER COPLANAR FLATS ON RELATED ENDS THEREOF, A LOWER BAR PORTION HAVING AN UPPER FLAT COPLANAR WITH AND PIVOTED TO THE LOWER FLAT OF THE UPPER BAR PORTION, SAID LOWER BAR PORTION HAVING A LOWER END, A LOWER FLAT ON THE LOWER END OF SAID LOWER BAR PORTION AND DISPOSED AT RIGHT ANGLES TO THE FLATS OF THE UPPER BAR PORTION, A CROSS-BAR HAND GRIP HAVING ITS INTERMEDIATE PORTION ENGAGED WITH AND FIXED TO THE LOWER FLAT OF THE LOWER BAR PORTION, AND PIVOTAL MOUNTING MEANS ON THE UPPER FLAT OF THE UPPER BAR PORTION. 